Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. The image of a shepherd caring for his sheep is depicted throughout scripture. Throughout the biblical era tending flocks and growing crops was the backbone of the Palestinian economy. The image of the LORD as the shepherd of His people was embedded in the piety of Israel. The 23rd Psalm is a prime example of this. There the poet writes, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.” He “guides me” down the path. His rod and staff “comfort me”.
To think of the LORD as our shepherd is a beautiful image. An image that many of us have in our homes. Maybe a picture of Jesus standing in a green pasture in front of some still waters holding a little lamb in his arms. Around him a flock of sheep have gathered, at the edge of the flock there’s my favorite sheep; the black sheep. Maybe you even have one of those precious moment figurines of the Good Shepherd holding His sheep. To think of the LORD as our shepherd is a beautiful image.
But wouldn’t you rather be celebrating, I don’t know, falconry Sunday --Andy, that is a reference to a person who hunts with birds of prey, it’s not a reference to a football team. It’s an image of Jesus as a falconer. We would be the birds of prey. It wouldn’t be a nacho cheese and buffalo wings Sunday.-- Maybe to avoid misunderstanding we could celebrate equestrian Sunday instead. We could depict Jesus as a jockey and we would be His trusty steed. Or how about this, how about Lion Tamer Sunday. Wouldn’t you rather be celebrating Lion Tamer Sunday today than Good Shepherd Sunday. I can see the precious moments figurines now. Jesus holding a chair in one hand and a whip in the other as we majestically roar.
Lion Tamer Sunday sounds way cooler than Good Shepherd Sunday. Doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you rather be represented by a lion than a sheep? I don’t know how much you know about sheep. I can’t say that I know a great deal. My momma has had sheep. She named them Princess and Jasmine, Daisy and Dandy, and Joshua the ram. Don’t tell my momma I said this about her precious little lambs but what I learned from Princess and Jasmine, Daisy and Dandy, and Joshua is, sheep are not all that cute and cuddly, rather I found them to be smelly and dumb. (again don’t tell my momma I said that.) The University of Illinois somehow determined that sheep have a lower IQ than pigs. Maybe they came to this realization after observing the behavior of sheep. Sheep are timid, easily frightened animals. In storms they have been known to pile up in the corner of their pasture, actually smothering one another to death. They don’t exactly display leadership qualities either. They easily become stressed when they are on their own. They prefer to blend in with the flock. In fact, they have such a strong reputation as followers that the “leader” may simply be the first individual to move. To make matters worse these dumb wandering beasts are completely defenseless. Sheep don’t have fangs or claws and even if they did they are such docile animals they wouldn’t know how to use them.
Sheep are dumb, they are easily lead astray, and they are incredible vulnerable. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather sing “I am Jesus mighty Lion” than, “I am Jesus little lamb”. I don’t want to be a sheep, do you? I don’t care if the description fits. I don’t care how striking the similarities are. I mean, sure, we may not always display the highest spiritual IQ. From time to time we may merely hear the Word of God and not actually do what it says, “like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”[1] When it comes keeping the marriage bed pure, or taking someone’s actions in the kindest possible way, or turning the other cheek, we like to do things our way; even though Proverbs 14:12 warns us, “there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Sure, “we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way”[2], as the prophet laments; but there are so many interesting opinions and thought-provoking ideas out there; there are so many people who will tell us what our itching ears want to hear, that we can’t help but be distracted by their messages of indulgence and tolerance. And yes, it is true that we lack the means to defend ourselves against the devil and his hell hounds. Every time we give in to a sin, every time we indulge a desire, every time we transgress or trespass we prove how pathetically vulnerable to temptation we truly are.
Sheep are dumb, they are easily led astray, and they are incredibly vulnerable. I don’t like it any more than you do, but sheep is what we are. I guess it’s a good thing that this morning Jesus says to us, “I am the good shepherd.”
As I said, the image of the shepherd was not unfamiliar to the people of Palestine. However, in time, shepherds had gained themselves a rather dubious reputation. Being on the move far away from the owner for months at a time presented many a shepherd with the temptation to steal a sheep or two for himself. Indeed, so many shepherds were corrupt that people were actually forbidden to buy milk or wool from a shepherd on the assumption that they were selling stolen goods. Likewise, the lack of supervision meant that no one would know if the shepherd lost a few sheep or sacrificed a few to the wolves. It got so bad that we find shepherds in the list of thieving and cheating occupations. Like the publicans and tax collectors they were deprived of civil rights; they weren’t even trusted to serve as witnesses in court.
Jesus calls Himself the “Good” Shepherd because He wanted to distinguish Himself from shepherds like these; He wanted to distinguish Himself from the Pharisees. You see, the Pharisees had shown themselves to be the kind of shepherds who care nothing for the sheep. Jesus had just healed a man who was blind from birth. But instead of rejoicing with the man for this gift he had been given, the Pharisees put the man on trial. When the man tells them that Jesus performed this miracle, they mock him for his faith. They say, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!”[3] And they threw him out of the church.
Jesus calls Himself the “Good” Shepherd because He wants to distinguish himself from the modern-day Pharisees as well. The televangelist whose only concern is how large the sheep’s tithe is. The minister who is too much of a milk toast to confront a person who is guilty as sin. The teacher who looks the other way when their students are flirting with temptation. I pray that both God and you forgive me for the times I am less than the shepherd God wants, and you need me to be.
Thankfully, Jesus is also my Good Shepherd. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Jesus says, “14 I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father”. Jesus; our Good Shepherd refers to us as “my sheep”. We are not just sheep, we are His sheep. Jesus takes personal possession of us, He claims us to be His own. That’s comforting because people tend to take better care of their own stuff, right? I rented a car a few weeks ago. The guy at the desk asked me if I wanted extra insurance for the car. I said, “absolutely I plan on tearing the snot out of this car”. I was hoping to get a rise out of him but instead he said, “sounds good”. He didn’t care about that car any more than I did, it wasn’t his. Thankfully Jesus doesn’t treat us like a rental car. He treats us like His personal possession.
Jesus treats us like his personal possession, even though He “knows us”. And I mean He KNOWS us, “just as” knows us; “just as the Father knows the Son” kind of knows us. That’s a mystery of the Trinity kind of knowledge. From our very beginning He knew us, after all He is the one who knit us together in our mother’s womb. He wanted to know us so well that when the time had fully come He came down from heaven and He was born of a woman that He might share in our humanity.[4] He knows our weaknesses; before a word is on our tongue he knows it completely[5], there is no secret place for us to hide in that He cannot see us.[6] He knows us. He knows our vulnerabilities; He knows we are prone to wander off and He knows that when we do, the devil is prowling close by hoping to sink his teeth into our soul. Jesus our Good Shepherd knows us; He knows that we are dumb, easily led astray, vulnerable sheep.
He knows us and He knows what kind of Shepherd we need. Jesus says, 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”…“I lay down my life—only to take it up again.” Jesus laid down His life for you or maybe a better way to say that would be, Jesus laid down His life in place of, as a substitution for, so that you would not have to lay down your life. Unfortunately, because of our sin, a sacrifice needed to be made. But because of His great love and rich mercy, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, was not willing to throw us to the wolves. Instead He allowed them to pierce His flesh and drag His lifeless body to the grave. And then, when death’s appetite was satiated, He rose. He rose from the dead. You see Jesus would not and did not leave His sheep without a Shepherd. He does not leave you to face hell hounds on your own. Jesus, our Good Shepherd is with you always to the very end of the age. He is your refuge and strength your ever-present help in trouble.[7] Even if the nations rage and people plot against you, even if the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers of this world band together to destroy you, even if the dammed devil himself is salivating over your soul, you have nothing to be afraid of, for Jesus is your Good Shepherd. His empty tomb announces His victory over sin death and the devil. His empty tomb is where sheep gather when they want to be safe.
Lion Tamer Sunday doesn’t sound so cool anymore, does it. Whether we care to admit it or not, we are sheep; dumb, easily lead astray, vulnerable sheep. Sheep who are in desperate need of a shepherd. Thankfully, Jesus is the Shepherd that we need. Thankfully, Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Thankfully, today, we are celebrating Good Shepherd Sunday. Amen
[1] James 1:23-24
[2] Isaiah 53:6
[3] John 9:34
[4] Galatians 4:4, Hebrews 2:14
[5] Psalm 139:4
[6] Jeremiah 23:24
[7] Psalm 46:1